Spain - Costa De La Luz

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Hi all, I hope you all enjoyed the snow!

Were back on the road again after our Algarve holiday but first let me finish off the last few days in Portugal and my families delay saga. My family couldn't fly home on Sat 4th Dec because of the snow at Doncaster airport and the ATC strike in Spain so they were put up by Easyjet in a 4 star hotel on the marina at Villamoura with full board not all inclusive. They were told to stay a week (not that bad really), but eventually took a flight to Newcastle on 9th Dec having had an extra 5 days holiday, so it didn't work out too bad for them. We stayed around with them until the Wednesday by wild camping just around the corner from their hotel and using their bath and other facilities again.......were just pikeys really!! Villamoura was a nice upmarket place so we enjoyed a couple more nights out before we said our goodbyes again and left on 8th Dec.
On leaving Portugal I'd say we really enjoyed it, we had 2 great city visits, countless lovely beaches to ourselves, lots of friendly people and a very relaxed way of life, I'd definitely visit again.

Our route out of Portugal took us north of Faro and to the border with Spain at Aymonte, crossing the Rio Guadiana into Andalucia. Our site was on the Costa de la Luz at Isla Cristina just 18km into Spain. On arrival we noticed the site was a full of Dutch and Germans who were staying over for the winter and had made there own temporary communities so we parked up in the only place that wasn't water logged (there had been some very heavy rain in the area for 3 days) right next to them. The first day was glorious so we went on the beach for a few hours then walked along the shell covered sands into town. The town itself was not what I expected, it was dirty with rubbish and dog crap on the pavements, scruffy buildings, run down housing areas and even a professional lady plying her trade in broad daylight on the street corner, so we did the shopping....quickly and got back to site asap. Back on site the Dutch and Germans were in full-on party mode for someone's birthday, treating us to some loud poor quality Euro pop, so it was into the van putting some loud Indie music of our own on to cover the din, when they'd burnt themselves out we settled down to watch Lord of the Rings (thanks to my dad for supplying us with dozens more dvd's to keep us going).

Now we were well back into our stride so we moved on and headed away from the sea and up towards Seville. The route was interesting, driving by Huelva the city where Colombus set sail for the Americas and driving alongside the vast marsh lands of the Coto de Donana with it's many bird species, we also drove past a place where there are hundreds/thousands of mirrors on the ground. The mirrors aim their sun beams at a central column which houses a giant solar panel, the strength of the beams gives the whole area around it an unusually bright glow which can be seen for miles.
We arrived in the city of Seville and the plan was to buy tickets for a La Liga game due the next day but the streets and parking where ridiculous, far worse than even Paris!!, so we ended up heading straight to the camp site instead. The camp site was small and quiet with not much happening so after a bite to eat we went across to the shopping centre for a look around. Back at site we found out that it was probably going to be very difficult getting to the Seville game the next day so along with our poor first impressions of Seville, it was scruffy, overcrowded and there were gangs of immigrants at every set of lights tapping on the van windows trying to sell stuff, a bit intimidating so we decided to move on.

With the sun shining at 23 degrees (11th Dec) we headed south to El Puerto de Santa Maria and to a site near the beach, the sat nav took us through the very narrow streets again but we made it to the site...just. The kids spent the afternoon on the beach in the sun playing football and flying the kite whilst I put my feet up for a change!
We walked into Santa Maria on the Sunday afternoon and found the locals out in force having lunch, they were all dressed up in their best gear having just been to church, most things were shut so we window shopped through what was a very nice town. We sat in the bar that night and sampled a few tapas dishes and practised our Spanish on the barman, poor bloke. The next few days were spent relaxing on the camp site or by the sea with a the odd visit to the local shops inbetween, just like in England the shops were packed with people stocking up on food for Christmas or last minute gift shopping.

Travelling further south east along the Costa de la Luz (15th Dec) we pitched up at a very nice site in Conil de la Frontera. The site was very well laid out, had great facilities and was only a short stroll to the town and the shops. The weather was great for the first 3 days at 26 degrees so we soaked up the sun and generally took it easy, reading or listening to the Ipod with our feet up. (we have all read a large number of books on this trip, great for rainy days/nights and the Ipod is priceless) The town itself was of Moorish style with mainly whitewashed low rise houses and narrow streets with connecting alleyways which gave it a very African feel. The streets were full of small bars and nice shops with the large church standing proud at the top of the hill (like most other Spanish towns). Walking back downhill across the prom and onto the large beach we caught our first glimpse of Africa, the distant mountains of Morocco could be seen across the straights of Gibraltar. On our final night in Conil we met Glen and Linda a couple from Brighton who'd retired early (fifties), sold up their home and bought a van to travel Europe. We swapped info on places to visit and camp sites over a drink in the bar that night, we celebrated mine and Glens birthdays that happened to be both that wknd and chatted about our travels, they were heading in the same directions as us.

Leaving the lovely town and camp site of Conil behind we took the coast road down to Cabo de Trafalgar, we parked up the van and walked the 1km up the spit of land to the Faro de Trafalgar lighthouse. This is the spot where just offshore in 1805 the British armada lead by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson battered the combined Spanish and French fleets and so ended Napoleons plans to invade England. There isn't much to see now (obviously) but the few information boards tell how the battle was fought and the numbers which perished. The British only lost one ship but Admiral Nelson was mortally wounded and was put ashore at Gibraltar with his ship the Victory then taken back to England for a state funeral, forever a hero.

Onwards and south to Tarifa. Tarifa is the most southerly town on the European mainland and is only 15km from Africa. As we approached on the coast road the Moroccan Atlas mountains grew larger in the distance and a clear view of Africa welcomed us when we reached the town. We inspected a few sites here and picked camping Rio Jara which was right on the beach and within walking/cycling distance of town. Unfortunately our stay here coincided with some very heavy thunder storms rolling in from the Atlantic and for 2 nights the camp site was lashed with strong winds and horizontal rain. However we did have a break in the rain and managed to wander into town where we walked around the very nicely presented old town which is within the old fort walls, we then headed for the port to get info on the ferry to Tangiers and sat at a view point looking across the straights of Gobraltar, the Med to our left and the Atlantic to our right. We watched the constant floatilla of supertankers sailing in and out of the Med and the ferries criss crossing them to get to Africa for at least half an hour. It was sat there we realised we had come a very long way. The walk back to site was along the beach and past the 50 or so kite surfers, it's always windy in Tarifa and a perfect place for kite surfing, they were all very skilled travelling at upto 40 mph, apart from the one bloke who lost control and his very expensive kite which pulled him out of the water and into a cow field ripping the sail on the barbed wire, he was lucky. Back on site I got chatting to a bloke camping on his own with his bike, it turned out that Mauro from Italy had cycled to Tarifa from Rome in 2 months, what's more he was only on his way cycling to Cape Town!!! just when you think you've come a long way!!! We chatted about his trip and like me he has a blog so I'll be following his progress for the next 18mths or so, he's even thinking about cycling back.....nutter. Mauro if your reading this good luck mate.

Well today (23rd December) is our last day here and the last blog of the year. We are going to Gibraltar tomorrow for the Christmas period then probably a trip to Morocco before New Year.
So thanks to all of you who have been following us in 2010, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and see you in 2011.
Neil Daniel and Harry
x

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Photos

El Puerto de Santa Maria
The bullring and statue

Conil de la Fontera
Whitewahsed buildings

On the beach
Conil de la Frontera

Tarifa - Camping Rio Jara
The gate from the site to the beach

Tarifa - Isla Los Palomas
The most southerly point on the European mainland

Tarifa
The view across to Africa

Tarifa - Old town
Narrow cobbled alleyways

Tarifa - Old Town Walls
The entrance to the old part of town